British Anzani Engine Co
of Scrubbs Lane, Willesden, London NW10
of Windmill Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex.
Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877-1956). The company produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy.
General
In the UK, Anzani outsourced the manufacture of their engines to Coventry Ordnance Works.
In the 1920s the company was refinanced as British Vulpine Engine Co and then again as British Anzani Engine Co concentrating on small engines and car and motorcycle powerplants.
Supplied AC Cars with the 1,496cc side-valve four cylinder engine (that would become their famous 2-litre motor), Frazer-Nash with an 1,496cc ohv engine, Morgan with a V-twin, and Squire with the R1 twin cam engine. Their most well known products came to be in motorcycles, lawnmowers and outboard engines. Cotton and Greeves motorcycles used Anzani motors.
1927 Private company.
1937 Formed as a private company
1937 Aero engine manufacturers.
In 1939, British Anzani built a prototype that was the forerunner of the popular post-war clip-on model. Simple in construction, it was a 61cc two-stroke that was positioned beside the left upper chain-stay with the cylinder inclined along the frame tube. Ignition was by magneto and a petroil tank sat beside the drive roller. The firm was unable to develop the idea due to other commitments.
1951 Became a public company
The company diversified
1961 Employs 150 persons. One of the largest manufacturers of outboard marine engines. Also make 'Easimow' motor mowers, power units for motorcycles and light cars and Astra light utility vehicles.
1980 As the British Anzani Group it finally went into liquidation in 1980.
Horticultural
See British Anzani Engine Co: Horticultural
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X
- 1961 Guide to Key British Enterprises: Motor, Motor-Cycle and Commercial Vehicle Manufacturers
- 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- AA. [2] Image courtesy of Aviation Ancestry